This is How Airplanes are Assembled!

what goes on when it comes to building an airplane the first thing is to plan and design the airplane this stage can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months and sometimes years aircraft designers who are experts in their field are responsible for creating the aircraft and determining the shape and size of the plane as well as how it'll be powered and steer after the design of the aircraft structure is ready it's passed on to the engineers a group of professionals involved in the process of building an aircraft they take the design and have the job of figuring out how to make it a reality once the engineers get the design they need to determine how much each part will weigh how much the plane can hold what material should be used and how it'll all be connected this is probably the hardest part of building a plane they have to get everything right which results in years of making and determining the details before any parts are even ordered roughly the entire design process can take six years to accomplish from the initial design of how the plane should look to getting all the parts and connections right designers and engineers spend long hours doing research and carefully designing an aircraft today designers use computer simulations to speed up the design process and make their job a bit easier it's simpler to add information and numbers to a computer and see the plane come together inside these simulations they create a 3d version of the wanted aircraft and can test how it would perform in different conditions they can simulate what happens when the plane encounters turbulence or how it would handle a hard landing this part is crucial in many design processes and can help the designer's vision come to life it also helps the engineers as they can test how fast the plane can fly and how high it can go even though these simulations can predict how much energy the engines will produce or whether or not there's enough space for luggage underneath the seats they can't fully predict how the finished product will react in such conditions engineers have to smash that like button if you haven't done so already but no they have to be extremely careful when ordering each piece of the plane this process takes about two years but it all depends on the complexity of the aircraft a new design might take longer than an update to an existing model in reality designing a plane and putting the design through a simulation are important steps in building a plane they're performed concurrently to speed up the process while building upon each other after the design stage is completed they can start manufacturing the plane parts and their construction by now you're probably aware that a plane is constructed of multiple major components such as fuselage wings and one or more engines each of these components consists of thousands of small parts before the plane can be put together each part and piece must be constructed for a plane to fly and perform without a flaw it needs many different parts to work together each part of the plane is individually made then they're combined and fitted properly to create the final product but we'll get to that a bit later one of the most important parts of the plane is the wings the big curved pieces that stick out from the side of the plane are the parts responsible for generating lift and helping the plane fly and stay in the air the larger the wings are the more lift the plane can generate which is why the wings are so large on commercial planes another important part of the plane is the fuselage this is the plane's body and holds all the other parts in place it's made from a bunch of different panels that are put together like a puzzle without the fuselage there won't be anything holding the plane together you also have the tail mainly used to help steer the plane and the engines provide the power that enables the plane to fly all these parts are necessary for building a plane and the construction of these parts can be the longest step in the process takes about one or two years to build or require all the necessary parts of an airplane once all the parts are delivered the plane can move on to the next phase now that all the parts are constructed delivered and inspected they're sent to the main plant of the plane company where the production line is located each piece is now ready to be joined to form the aircraft the entire assembly part is done by a team of workers who are specially trained in putting planes together they have to work with extreme precision and plan for the parts to fit correctly this process might sound scary and long but in reality it's the fastest step of the entire plane building process it can take from two weeks to a month to put a plane together depending on its size and complexity the first thing that gets assembled is the body which is the largest section of the plane once the body's put together the wings get attached and then finally the tail after the main parts of the plane have been assembled the workers install the engines landing gear and other smaller parts after the plane is assembled it's thoroughly inspected to search for any imperfections or defects they were to find any defect they immediately fix it on the spot and inspect the plane once again to ensure they didn't miss anything once the plane has passed inspection it can move on to the next and final stage before we get into the final part of assembling a plane we have to mention all the materials a plane is made of now designing and constructing a plane is one difficult job but each designer engineer and worker also needs to pay attention to the material the plane will be made of over the years some materials have proven to work better than others these suitable ones must be as light as possible as each bit of extra weight can add to the overall fuel burn they also have to be rigid and hard enough to withstand the extreme weather conditions but they also need to be flexible enough to smash that subscribe button and ring that notification bell but no in all seriousness they need to be flexible enough to be rounded and streamlined for better aerodynamics finally the materials also need to be affordable originally planes were made from wood and cloth super light materials to enable the aircraft to fly on the least amount of power however it was proven that airplanes needed to be more durable as well as light because of this airplanes needed to become all metal aluminum proved to be the most suitable material as it was durable light and relatively flexible it was easy to assemble and repair using machine tools rather than saws and axes however like other metals it did suffer from corrosion and stress fatigue so researchers developed new aluminum-based alloys like titanium aluminum to mitigate these issues this mixture proved to be a very useful compromise but not all airplanes are made from the same materials current generation planes are built from a new type of material called composite which have proven to have many advantages such as being lighter than aluminum and having a much simpler structure that doesn't fatigue or corrode now that you know more about the materials a plane is made of we can move on to the final stage of building a plane which is the testing stage as the plane is finally put together and inspected it goes under very rigorous and elaborate tests to ensure that the aircraft is ready for any situation it may face while in the sky the first test is the bending wings test where they check to see how the wings and fuselage would behave under both normal and exceptional loads during their life they get the aircraft wings to snap or bend them to find their breaking point and ensure that it's well beyond the predicted load level the planes are also tested against extreme weather where they're exposed to different levels of humidity wind rain ice and more one last test that's probably the most important is the ingestion test or birds and water test up in the sky engines have often ingested birds which cause them to fail or damage the engines without an engine a plane does not have the ability to fly the engines are tested against bird attacks and water ingestion they also simulate bird strikes at the cockpit to ensure that it won't break the plane's windows or change the way it flies water can also be an issue because if a lot of water enters the engine it can cause damage after all the testing the plane is finally ready to receive the final touch-ups which may include internal configuration or painting after this the plane is ready to be delivered to the customer and hit the skies bye for now

Channel: Beyond Facts

Views: 2,040

Keywords: a380, aircraft, airline, airplane, airplane documentary, airplane test crash, airplane test flight, airplane testing, airplanes, airport, aviation, beyond facts, beyond facts planes, boeing, discovery, documentary, engine, facts, flight, fly, flying, how airplane is made, how airplanes are made, how airplanes fly, how are planes made, how it's made, landing, made, modern technology, pilot, plane, planes, runway, this is how airplane engines are tested, this is how airplanes are assembled, wing, wings

Id: DbLMxCSOfA0

Length: 8min 20sec (500 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 31 2022